By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The European Union, EU has donated the sum of thirty-two million Euros to EVOWAS member States to help revamp the West Africa Energy sector.
supported the ECOWAS Energy market with the sum of € 32 m Euros) for the improvement of Energy performance in West Africa.
At a meeting in Bissau, Guinea Bissua, Madeleine Onclin, Head of Cooperation at the European Delegation to the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, disclosed that the EU has funded ECOWAS with thirty-two million euros (€ 32,000,000) to support the implementation of the Programme for Improvement of Energy Performance in West Africa (AGoSE-AO).
“The EU will continue to support West African States to access clean and sustainable Energy”, she added.
Commissioner of Enterprise Development, Mining, Energy and Digital Economy of the UEMOA Commission, Dr. KPaul Koffi Koffi commended ECOWAS initiative for the development of the energy sector in the Region.
He disclosed that about 10 billion dollars would be used to support development of energy poles in the region and he promised to synergize with ECOWAS to achieve common objectives in the energy sector.
While stressing the role of energy as a catalyst for socio-economic development, Mr. Sédiko Douka, Commissioner of Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation of the ECOWAS Commission, emphasized that currently ECOWAS energy challenges stands 53%.
Doukà said that to deal with this critical challenge ECOWAS is developing a vast program of access to electricity through two major regional projects of more than one billion USD with financing from the World Bank (ECOREAP, BEST, ROGEAP).
Meanwhile,Ministers in Charge of Energy from ECOWAS Member States met in Bissau , the Guinea Bissua capital on March 24, 2023 to adopt ECOWAS Energy Policy, the Regional Electricity Green Hydrogen Policy, among others.
Ministers used the occasion to fine-tune the regional electricity market, the state of compliance of the Member States vis-à-vis the Directive on securing cross-border electricity exchanges within the framework of the regional electricity market, the ECREEE Strategic Plan 2023-2027, and the West African Gas Pipeline project and the natural gas as a transition fuel.
